FIVE PLACES
LIZ SPIKOL I JE STAFF
We’re Going
This Summer
Basilica Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy.

S ince 1974, the Gil Travel Group, headquartered in downtown
Philadelphia, has been making plans for Jewish adventurers. Much
of that travel is to Israel.

“We send over 50,000 travelers to Israel every year,” said Iris
Hami, Gil’s executive vice president.

But the family business also sends tourists to other parts of the
world, sometimes for a Jewish-interest trip, sometimes with no par-
ticular focus at all. We asked Hami where Jews are going this summer,
and learned there are five places that prove to be particular draws.

Venice, Italy
Does anyone need an excuse to visit Venice? With its canals and
cathedrals, museums and mazelike alleyways, it’s an utterly unique
and exquisite travel experience.

This year, though, the city on the water has special appeal for
Jewish travelers: 2016 marks the 500 th anniversary of the establish-
ment of Venice’s Jewish ghetto.

To commemorate the milestone, city officials and members of
Venice’s Jewish community formed a committee to organize events
and exhibitions — and there are many. (The English word “ghetto,”
not coincidentally, comes from the Italian.)
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There’s an ongoing exhibit (“Venice, the Jews and Europe. 1516–
2016”) at Palazzo Ducale, with artifacts and a virtual reconstruction.

There are academically oriented conferences (“The Ghetto as Global
Metaphor”) and a symposium on “Venice and the Hebrew Book”
in collaboration with the National Library of Israel. There will be
the first ever performance of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice in
the Ghetto, where the play is set, and a concert at La Fenice Opera
House called The Music of the Ghettoes: Old and New Songs from
the Jewish Tradition with Frank London and Ute Lemper.

And that’s just for starters. For more information, go to
veniceghetto500.org. Iberian Peninsula
The great thing about traveling to Iberia is you can get two for one
— Spain and Portugal — and not break the bank.

“Portugal is not that expensive and has a lot of Jewish interest,”
said Hami, who sends a lot of local residents there.

Both countries have rich Jewish histories that are still evident
today in old synagogues, Juderías (Jewish quarters) and even Jew-
ish cemeteries.

In southern Spain, the Jewish legacy abuts the Moorish one —
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a grand mosque steps
away from a Judería, for
example — providing a re-
markable look at a the cen-
turies-long connections be-
tween the two cultures.

Last year, Spain topped a list of the
most tourist-friendly countries, so you
may want to start there, though beware:
It’s almost unbearably hot in August; so
many Spaniards leave for cooler climes
that even the capital of Madrid can seem
like a ghost town.

St. Petersburg, Russia
Summer in Berlin.

If your primary experience of the White
Nights is from that ’80s movie with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gre-
gory Hines (guilty as charged), you need to buy a plane ticket to St.

Petersburg posthaste.

That picturesque, historic city, which — with its canals and bridges
— resembles Venice or Amsterdam, is the perfect place to experience
the natural phenomenon that occurs from late May to early July. Be-
cause the city is so far north, the sun can’t dip below the horizon,
and daytime simply bleeds into night.

Some find the quality of light romantic, others find it energizing
and an unlucky few may have a hard time sleeping. For most people
in the city, it’s a welcome respite from Russia’s dark, cold winters —
and the only time of year that city officials don’t turn on the street-
lights. The brightest period is reportedly during the last two weeks
of June, so book your travel now.

COPYRIGHT VISITBERLIN | PHOTO BY SCHÖNBERGER
Berlin There’s so much of Jewish interest in Berlin — the synagogues, mu-
seums, memorials, Jewish neighborhoods — it’s hard to know where
to start.

Summer is the perfect time to go because, while the weather is
warm, it’s not oppressively hot, as it is in other parts of Europe. Pe-
riodic rain showers will punctuate sunny days, many of which can
be spent outdoors at Berlin’s many street festivals, concerts, beer
gardens and parks.

There are even open-air theater performances and film screenings,
to say nothing of the city’s beaches. This year, the Jewish Film Festival
runs from June 4 to 19, while the city’s Lesbian and Gay Festival and
the colorful Christopher Street Day both happen in July.

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